Strange pasts and strange accents
by justforfunstories
Summary: Only she knew what had happened to her family, and who did it. Only her, and she only wanted revenge. Will the Manhattan Newsies help her, and will they learn the truth of the devastating back ground to this girl?
1. A new hope

**Alright! So I'm back with a new story, this one involving an OC of my own! I hope you enjoy, so here's chapter 1! **

She stood at the front door of the Manhattan Newsboys Lodging House, staring at the doorknob, with her crutch stuck under her left armpit. This would be the start to another life, and not one like she had already led. She was awaiting for a new adventure, not one that was filled with tragic endings, the complete opposite of how every fairytale ending was like. She had read enough to know that there was never going to be a happy ending from who she had been before. There was just no way it could happen.

She lifted her gaze up to see the sign, which read 'Newsboys Lodge House.'

_'What will they think of me? Will they accept me, being the way that I am?_' she thought to herself, hoping, wishing, and dreaming that she could find some place better than the streets. She looked down at the end of her crutch, and sighed. She didn't know what else to do, so she hesitantly raised her right arm, giving three soft knocks on the worn-down door.

A man opened the door, slowly and quietly. It was late out, around 10:30, the sun had passed down the horizon, leaving the moon to do its work. When the man saw her, he held a sympathetic smile on his face and welcomed her in.

"Come in! It's freezing out there!" the man spoke at once. The snow was covering her feet. Well, foot. She was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts, that's all she could afford with what little she had left. "You stay right there, I'll go get you a blanket." And sure enough, the man disappeared up the steps located to the far left corner of the small but cozy room.

The man returned with the blanket, and quickly wrapped her in it, steadying her shivers. "Welcome to the Manhattan Newsboys Lodging House, I see that you're not a boy though. We can make arranges for that!" the man said cheerfully, but quietly. She only nodded, too cold and too tired to really talk.

"What's your name?" the man asked politely.

_'Should I go with my real name? Everyone would recognise my last name though. No, I'll only go with my first name, not my last name,_' she thought, knowing full well that many people knew of her last name, for many reasons.

"A...Alex, o..or Alexandrea," she spoke through soft shivers, somehow starting to steady her breath. "B...but most call me Alley, or Twisted."

"Alright, Alex, Alexandrea, Alley, or Twisted, which would you like to be called?" the man spoke again.

_'I should probably hide my real name, suspicion would arise otherwise,_' she once again thought to herself.

"I'll go with Twisted, well just Twist will do," she replied. She would also need to hide her true accent from others, as a precaution so that nobody can find out who she really was. She needed to train her New York accent, she had only lived there for a year and a bit, so she definitely needed practise at it.

She also couldn't have the precise grammar of which she always spoke using, people would find out about her past through that way also. She already looked rugged up enough for anyone to fully recognise who she was. She had once been a beautiful young girl, with her long brown, curly hair reaching down her back, with gorgeous blue-grey and green eyes that people always complimented her about. She now looked like a full on street rat, her hair messed up in tangled knots down her back, with eyes that looked like they were about to burst out into tears at any given moment. This new her also came fixed with a crutch, a lopsided one at that.

"Alright then, Twist, my name is Mr Kloppman and I run this Lodging House," the man, now known as 'Mr Kloppman' stated. "Here you'll find newsboys, ages ranging from 5 to 18 years old. One other problem, you're the only girl that we've ever had," the man looked down at his feet, obviously not knowing what to do about it, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let her back out in the snow. Not the way she looked. She looked tired, sleep-deprived, parched and she looked like she need to be taken care of by someone. And fast.

"Please take a seat, I'll have you choose a bed soon enough and I'll cook something up for you," Mr Kloppman said with a smile on his face, he knew that the boys will think of her as a sister and will take care of her. "And then you can go to bed, and you can meet the others tomorrow."

"T...thanks Mr Kloppman," Twist started before she was cut off.

"You can just call me Kloppman if you'd like."

Twist just nodded with a small smile, she knew that this place would soon become her home.

"Alrigh' Kloppman," Twist tried her best at a New York accent. "Tank you for your kindness, Ise really aprreciate it."

Kloppman looked at her strangely, curious as to know why Twist had suddenly changed her voice. But before he asked, he stopped himself, maybe it was personal. He wouldn't want to push any button, he wanted her to be welcome. Even if she had a very strange New York accent.

"Well, you can have a look around if you'd like, maybe pick out a bed that you'd like, but be quiet. Those boys do not like being woken up," Kloppman warned.

"Ise'll be fine!" Twist replied with a grin. And with that, she slowly made her way up the steps, manoeuvring her crutch up the stairs.

_'This will be a start of a new life, I'm sure of it.'_

**So so that was chapter 1, if you enjoyed it, please leave a review as that would be most appreciated! Thanks again!**


	2. Too many names

**Here's chapter 2! **

Twist awoke to over a dozen boys staring at her, with looks of complex confusion. Maybe they hadn't known of her arrival? Maybe she was quiet enough last night?

"Uhh...can I help you?" she spoke, the confusion also growing on her face.

'_Were they watching me sleep? Now that's just creepy..._' She didn't know what was so surprising about herself, until she remembered that she was the only girl in the Lodging House.

"Youse da only goil we'se seen here," a boy had finally said. Awkward silence filled the room, the boys exchanging unsure glances to each other. "Are youse gonna tell us your name?"

"Oh...uhh...everyone just calls me Twist," she said, trying her best with her new adopted accent. The boys that surrounded her looked at each other, almost like they knew that it wasn't her normal accent. She continued anyway. "Well, dats what people would call me if anyone actually knew me," she muttered.

Of course people would've known of her old self, I mean, she couldn't ever meet anyone who hadn't heard of her. She did have quite the unusual past. From millionaire, to street rat, strange really. Her, what used to be, family were quite possibly the richest people New York had ever seen, they WERE. Until...things happened.

"Well, Twist, dis here is Race, Specs, Albert, Buttons, Finch, Elmer, Crutchie, well he's in da bathroom, Henry, Mush, Romeo, Sniper, Jojo, and Tommy Boy," a boy, around the age of 17 or 18 introduced the others, pointing towards them and saying each name quickly. Twist's head was spinning, there were just too many names to remember and the boy said each way too quickly for her. "Oh, and I'm Jack, Jack Kelly."

Twist stared up at Jack, her eyes nearly popping out of her head at how many names there were. Well, there weren't that many, but enough for Twist.

"Do ya really expect me ta learn all youse names dat quickly?" Twist gave Jack a greasy look. She looked around the room to see that some of the boys were trying hard not to laugh, some failing miserably. One had started bursting out into laughter.

"Stop dat Finch!" Jack yelled over his shoulder towards the cackling boy. "I'll say dem slower, dats Race, Specs, Albe-," he was cut off by Twist.

"Hey, Ise'll learn dem soon enough," she held her hands up to stop Jack from continuing. "I'll be fine, I just suck at remembering names, dats all."

"Right, well, did ya arrive last night?" a boy asked. "Oh, da names Albert by da way."

"Ohhhhh okay den, yeah Ise did, at 'round 10:30 Ise think," Twist replied.

"Oh, so it was you who was crashin' about last night, Ise thought it was Crutchie," Jack rolled his eyes. He obviously knew that Twist also had a crutch, and thought it was Crutchie, due to the dark not allowing him to see who it was.

A boys head popped around the door to the bathroom, giving Jack a glare. "Jeez, accusing me again, ay Jack?" Twist figure it was Crutchie, given the quick response and the edge of a crutch was from behind the door, who had said what he said in quite a sassy way. He had an eyebrow cocked upwards and a smug look on his face, showing that he was so used to being accused of such cases.

"Oh, sorry Crutchie," Jack apologised, although not thoroughly as he was also returning the same look that was seen upon Crutchie's face.

"Hey! Now who stole my cigars dis time!?" another boy had yelled suddenly. He looked about and glared at Albert, another accusation in a matter of seconds.

"Ise didn' steal nothin'," Albert held his hands up in an innocent way. He did look suspicious though, by the way he looked, having a small hint of a smile.

"Ise'll kill you next time ya do it!" the other boy threatened, his fist just inches away from Albert's face. Others had already started laughing at this, it was probably a reoccurring incident that happened day in and day out.

Jack nudged Twist in her side and whispered into her ear. "Dats Race, the one who's yelling," he pointed towards the fuming boy. "Alright Albert! Give him his cigars back and hurry up everyone else! Those papes don't sell themselves!" Jack clapped his hands together, making the others finish getting ready.

He turned to look at Twist again. "Would ya like ta help sell some papes today?" he asked. Twist nodded instantly with excitement, now this is what she was waiting for. Jack smiled at her, "great! I'll help ya if you'd like."

Jack walked over to the bathroom to where Crutchie was, leaving Twist on her bed still.

A boy walked over to her a few seconds later. "Come with me, Ise'll get ya some clothes for today," he said. "The name's Specs." He spat into his hand and held it out towards Twist.

'_Disgusting_,' she thought, but didn't hesitate to do the same. Soon, she was wearing a new set of clothes. The boys were kind enough to lend her the bathroom for herself for a while, and she put on a newsies cap.

She had her crutch under her arm and met up with Crutchie, who smiled at her and introduced himself, even though Twist already knew who he was.

'_Maybe he'll understand the pain of being a cripple, seeing as he's only got one working foot, and I've got, well, one remaining foot left attached to me,_' she thought hopefully. No one knew that her leg was amputated just yet. She had made a fake leg made out of sticks, filled with old papers she'd found lying about, with a sock and a shoe covering it and attached it around the end of her left leg, so people wouldn't stare at her as much. All the newsies had gathered around the door, ready to go out into the cold weather to sell papers. It was time to start her first day working.

**That was chapter two, I hope you liked it! I'm trying to make these chapters as juices as possible, so you have enough to read. Please review if you liked it, I'll update either later today or tomorrow. Thanks! **


	3. Stronger than you think

**Now it's chapter 3!**

"Oh, I hope dis headline is gonna be good!"

"Please don't be something 'bout some stupid buildin'!"

The man who was writing on the blackboard on top of the building had finally finished what today's headline was. All the newsboys, and the one newsgirl, stared up at the blackboard with hopeful eyes. Twist knew enough about selling papers so far. It had been over three weeks since she had started, and boy was she good at it. It was probably the limp, as Race kept saying.

The chalk writing on the blackboard clearly read 'another strike by workers in the North.' Several groans were let out amongst the annoyed newsies, just another strike that would be the headline.

Crutchie turned to face Jack. "Maybe our strike got other workers' hopes up." Twist had already heard about the newsboys going on strike, well who didn't. It used to be one of the most talked about subjects in everyday conversations. Twist had to admit, Crutchie did have the best vocal grammar amongst the boys, he was actually pretty smart. She does have quite amazing vocal skills herself, but her fake accent made that sound like an awful lie.

"Yeah, probably," Jack let out a sigh, this was going to be a bad day trying to sell papers. "Right, well boys! Today's gonna be a hard day sellin'!" A couple of nods were seen, mostly just disappointed groans.

"Hey, da Delancey brudda are here, hide!" Race yelled, catching everyone's attention in an instant. Twist hadn't seen the Delancey brothers before, not in the weeks that she's been selling. All she's heard are bad things about the two, so she tried limping away as fast as she could, but she was just too slow.

"Oh lookie here Oscar," a man let out a scowl, grabbing the back of Twists shirt, turning her to face him. "There's another crip joining the boys. Oh and it's a girly."

"Ha, never seen a girl working here before," the other man laughed, Twist assumed it was Oscar by what the other one said. He grabbed the collar of Twists shirt and pulled her off the ground so she was eye level with him. Twist struggled, her hands pulling at Oscar's arms to let go, as she couldn't breathe. "Now let's keep this simple, that's Morris and I'm Oscar, and we're gonna soak ya." He dropped her to the ground. She let out a grunt, it hurt her leg.

Morris raised a fist, ready to pound Twist in the stomach.

'_Oh great, what fun..._' Twist thought sarcastically. '_Good thing my old butler taught me how to defend myself.'_ With that, she caught Morris' fist before it hit her, stunning Morris greatly. He pulled his hand out of Twists grip, and straightened up.

"This ones not going down without a fight, eh Oscar?" Morris turned to face his brother, letting out a small cackle. "Well, we won't be so easy on her then."

The two didn't notice the Twist had gotten up off the ground, and looked about ready to fight the two brothers. As Morris turned to face Twist again, he was met with a crutch in the face, making his nose bleed rapidly. He stumbled backwards, letting out a small yelp and Oscar glared at Twist.

He stood forward, bringing a fist down onto her face, making her nose bleed too. She gasped, but then spat on the ground, ready to fight him back. She dropped her crutch on the ground without taking her eyes off Oscar, and balancing on one leg, she jumped and kicked him in the crotch without falling on the ground.

Oscar fell backwards on his back in pain and shocked at what she'd just done. Morris turned around to face Twist again and tried to punch her in the stomach, but Twist grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back in a painful way.

"Ow ow! Stop! Stop!" he pleaded, whilst yelling out in pain. Twist raised her eyebrows at him, having a smug look on her face. She let go of his wrist, and he instantly started massaging it, giving Twist a death glare. He turned to help Oscar up off the ground, with Twist staring at him.

"This ain't over yet you crip, we'll get you again!" Morris warned her. Oscar spat at her, showing his disgust over her. The pair of them turned their backs to her, and continued walking towards the Distribution Office.

"Oh, good luck with that!" she called back, forgetting her fake accent. She took the warning and turned to face the newsboys. All of them had looks of complete awe, and looked shocked that she'd just beaten the Delancey's in a small fight.

"What? They got what they deserved," she stated, shrugging her shoulders at them. Right now, she couldn't care less about the fake accent that she was trying to keep, which made the newsboys look at each other with confused looks on their faces.

"Uhh, youse voice keeps changing," Albert pointed out. "Why do ya keep doing dat?" he asked, basically speaking for mind of the rest of them.

Crutchie limped forward, his eyes showing that he wished he could fight the Delancey's, and picked up Twists crutch. "I guess this is yours, that was pretty cool."

Twist looked at him with a smile, "thanks. I just gotta do what I gotta do sometimes." Once she had positioned her crutch back under the left armpit, she walked over to join the newsboys again.

Crutchie walked over to her, and whispered into her ear. "Why do ya keep changing your voice?" he asked. "It's strange."

"Well, it's to hide who I really am," she replied, that's all she was going to say.

"Oh, well then, do ya need something for your nose?" Crutchie didn't want to press the issue.

Twist shook her head, "nah, I'm fine, thanks anyway." She got her papers for the day, and limped over to her usual selling spot, ready to hawk the headlines, even if they were as bad as they could get.

**I tried including the Delancey brothers into the story, I hope it worked. Once agin, please review, you don't have to, but I do enjoy what you have to say about this story. Thanks!**


	4. Not who you really are

**I'm back with another chapter! So, here goes...**

"Ise wanna find out why Twist keeps changin' her accent," Finch whined, almost like he was begging to know. "It's really weird."

"I knows, we all wanna know too," Jack placed a hand on Finch's shoulder, sighing all the while. "Maybe we can find out, ya neva know what she could spill outta dat mouth."

"What do ya say we do, Jack?" Crutchie asked, he was onto it. It was more or less the fact that he wanted to know what happened to her leg. She didn't put any weight on it at all, unlike himself who used his bad foot to steady himself sometimes. "Like do we make her talk? That'd be rude."

"Well, youse know dat I'm good at persuading others," Jack started with a wink. "Ise'll somehow make her spill."

"Youse better do a good job of it, we'se all wanna know," Albert turned around, seeming interested by the sudden idea that had formed. "Youse should try tonight, when we'se all in here talkin'," he suggested.

"Yeah!" the rest of the newsboys said in unison. Twist was the only one not in the 'lounge room' of the lodging house, she wasn't even in the lodging house whatsoever. Everyone wanted to know why Twist was so secretive about her past, and why she always put on a fake accent. It was on rare occasions that she'd forget to talk in the fake accent, revealing more than she'd hoped.

That night, when everyone was eating what Kloppman had given them for dinner, Jack tried to talk to Twist.

"So...where ya from?" Jack asked slowly, scooting over next to Twist.

"Whadda ya mean?" Twist gave Jack a strange look, although her eyes were filled with nervous feelings. "Ise from New York!"

"If youse say so," Jack muttered. "Youse accent changes all da time, we'se don't get it," Jack finally confessed.

Twist sighed, they needed to know who she was. She couldn't keep telling secrets about herself to stay hidden. They already knew enough. They knew that she had a fake accent, and they knew that she was definitely not from New York.

"Look, I've said some lies to you all to stay hidden," she started talking in her normal accent and gestured for all the newsboys to listen. "You can tell that I'm not really from New York, obviously my accent says it."

"Then where ya from!?" Finch called out from behind a few of the other newsboys. He was met with multiple hands covering his mouth and a whack on the back of his head. Twist glared at him with a look that could kill.

"ANYway," she sighed, rolling her eyes at Finch. "I'm actually...an Aussie."

This rose chaotic noises around the room in an instant.

"Ise knew it!" Albert had called out, raising an arm to point at her.

"Romeo! Youse owe me my money!" Race yelled towards Romeo, looking quite impressed with himself.

Crutchie and Jack glanced at each other. They were the only ones, except Twist, that weren't making a noise. People had actually taken bets on where Twist was actually from? Well, who knew with those boys. Crutchie nodded at Jack, and Jack stood up breathing in.

"Quiet!" he screamed at the insane boys. "Let her finish!"

Twist glanced over the shoulder to look at Jack, muttering a "thanks." She turned back to face the newsboys, who had finally calmed down. Seeing a yelling Jack is scary, they knew that well. "Now, since that's out of the way, and you've bloody calmed down, I can continue!" She felt like she was almost furious with them.

A knock had sounded on the front door. Mush went to open the door to find Davey and Les standing there.

"Hi," Davey said with a stiffened wave and a look of horror. "I almost didn't want to knock because of all the noise you were making. Is this a bad time to visit?"

"Oh, no," Mush moved out of the way to let the two in. Davey and Les saw Twist, whom they haven't met yet and looked at Jack.

"I'm guessing she's new?" Les asked. He was already eleven, but he was still really short.

Jack stood up with a smile. "Yeah, dis here's Twist," he introduced. "This here is Davey and Les," Jack gestured to the two. "They'se used ta work as newsies when dere dad was hurt."

Twist spat into her hand, picking up the trait from the rest of the boys. She held it out towards the brothers with a smile. Neither of them hesitated to spit into their own hands and shake her hand, they'd done it many times.

"Well, we'se were hearing what Twist here's back story was," Jack explained. "She's only told us dat she's Aussie and not from New York, she used ta put on a fake accent, didn't work," he said with a laugh. Twist just glared at him, too many times has she glared at people in a span of a couple of minutes.

"I'll get right back to that, and now for the third and final time, I'll tell, you who I really am," she cast her gaze around to see everyone's face. "But before I say that, is there anyone else who wants to interrupt me? I'm only going to explain once," she cocked an eyebrow. Silence. "Alright, let's beg-"

"Twist!" Finch yelled. Everyone turned to look at him. "Sorry, Ise just wanted ta interrupt," he muttered. This was met with a loud groan from everyone and a smack in the back of the head to Finch.

"Obnoxious," Twist rolled her eyes whilst sighing. "Now, if everyone could shut up and let me talk, that would be great," she spoke with a clear hint in her voice that she'd soak someone if they interrupted again.

"Since we know that I'm Aussie, I'll say what my first name is, you'll be able to guess my last name in a heartbeat, trust me." She started. "My first name is Alexandrea." Gasps were heard throughout the room, they'd obviously guess it instantly.

"You're Alexandrea Renolds?" Crutchie asked, confirming what was on everyone's mind.

"Bloody oath I am," Twist said proudly, thinking about who everyone thought she is, well, was.

"But why are youse a newsie? Youse family is rich!" Romeo cried out, he was very confused, just like the rest of them.

"That's the thing, no one knows about what happened except me. I was left alone, because...things happened..."

"Like...?" Albert pressed on carefully.

"Umm..."

**Cliffhanger! You'll know soon enough about what happened, I've got it all worked out. Please review what you think about this story so far, I appreciate it. I'll try to update my one shot stories tomorrow with another back ground. I'm thinking of alternating which story I update between each day to give each the same amount of content as the other. That's all, thank you! **


	5. Revengeful thoughts

**I'm so sorry everyone for not updating sooner! Please don't kill me! I've been at Phillip Island and I didn't have any internet, so that's why I haven't updated in so long. Sorry! This is an instant continuation from the last chapter, just so you know. **

"Umm..." Twisted didn't know how to explain what had happened. She was almost too nervous to say it, as though telling people would make her situation so much worse. It seemed all of them were eager to find out though, and she knew she could trust them. "Well...nobody knows this, but my parents were murdered and the family fortune was stolen..." she looked to the ground, fighting back tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.

The room was silent, no one was talking. You couldn't even hear any breathing from anyone, not a single breath. Everyone was stunned, shocked to the bone about the disaster of the Renolds family.

"Murdered? By who?" Crutchie spoke up gently, after a long and dreadful silence. "Do you know?"

"Snyder," Twist sighed. "The one you all call Snyder the Spider. He killed them. I saw it with my own two eyes," she said louder, sounding almost angry and upset at the same time. She couldn't hold back the tears anymore, she crouched into the corner and cried, her crutch laying next to her. "If I didn't have this bum leg, I could've caught him!" she grasped at her left knee, and shook it. "I could've done it..."

The tears rolled down her face, leaving tear streaks that showed the desperation and loneliness of how she felt. She felt every eye in the room piercing into her soul, as though they couldn't think of what to say or what to do.

"I...I wish I could turn back time..." she finally let out. "I wish my stupid leg didn't get infected and chopped, and I wish that I still had my mum and dad with me..." she sobbed into her hands. She wished dearly that everything bad could unwind itself, so that it went back to the carefree days.

Crutchie hobbled over to her and sat next to her, his arm wrapped around her shoulder. "It's alright, youse couldn't do anything about it," he whispered softly to her. "I understand the whole 'bum' leg thing, it's annoying."

"It's just not fair!" Twist yelled out, not intending to mean it to anyone. "Why does it happen to people when they least expect it? Did that happen to you?"

"It happened when I wanted to be a runner, I loved running, that's what I wanted to do all the time," Crutchie stared off into the distance, not looking at anyone. No one else in the room had heard what Crutchie had wanted to do until now. Sympathetic looks were given to the two. They'd never understand that it would be like to have dream for the future and for it to be snatched away, like a toy taken from a child.

Slowly, Jack came over and sat next to her, and rubbed her back. He was used to playing the older brother to most of the other newsies, but he knew that this one was different. It wasn't so much a nightmare as it was a memory. Twist was haunted by a nightmarish past that she couldn't let go of. It was a wonder how she even slept at night. Twist took off the fake leg that she made, and threw it onto the ground.

"I'd only made it so that people didn't give me disgusted looks in public," she explained. "But still, everyone stares at me like I shouldn't exist, like someone like me shouldn't be alive." She covered her face with her hands again and silently sobbed. She turned her head to look at Crutchie, her eyes puffy and red from crying. "Does that ever happen to you?"

Crutchie nodded, letting out a small sigh and lowered his head. "All the time, there ain't a day dat goes by where people don't stare," he muttered. "I've learned to ignore it, but sometimes it's hard..."

More silence filled to room as everyone watched Twist crying, Crutchie and Jack holding her all the while. "We'se all had bad pasts," Jack spoke, mostly to Twist directly, but to everyone also. "Some of us don't remember much of dem, but we'se can't let dem ruin us. I knows dat it's hard, but we'se just gotta let go sometimes." Twist couldn't help but agree with it, although, she had lost everything. Her family, her home, all the family fortune. She was left with nothing. She had to get her payback from _him_, then she could let go.

"He's gonna pay..." Twist muttered, her face slowly distorting into rage. "He's gonna pay, and when I find him, he's never gonna know what's coming." She lifted one of her hands, curling her fingers into a fist. "And when I get the payback I deserve, it's gonna feel grouse." Everyone around her took a careful step back, she looked scary now. You wouldn't have thought it was the same girl who was crying just a few moments ago if you saw her now. Her eyes only showed a fiery anger, as if nothing else mattered in her life except getting revenge.

Les was the only who had the guts to speak up, to ask her something. "Umm...Twist, what does grouse mean?" he said cautiously. Twist looked up at him, he was so innocent. In an instant, Twist realised what the rest of the boys had seen. She had become so caught up in what she wished dearly to do, that she'd forgotten that they were there. Her face changed back to one of calmness, maybe even a bit of embarrassment of letting the newsboys see her like that.

"Oh...it means good," she said sheepishly, trying to hide the redness on her face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that..." she looked to the ground, wringing her hands in her lap.

'_I'm so stupid! Why did I do that?' _she thought to herself, mentally scolding herself.

"It's alright, everybody gets angry once in a while," Elmer smiled, accepting the apology. Everyone else in the room nodded, accepting the apology also.

"Thanks guys," she mirrored the smile. She was happy she could trust them, although, she was going to get revenge sometime. She just was.

**Thanks for reading so far. I'm once again really sorry about not updating sooner! Oops! I'll hopefully have another chapter up of 'A new chance' tomorrow. For something new, I'll leave a quote down below, and you can try to guess it if you want. **

**_'Are you blind? She's got no clothes on! I can see her legs!'_**** Leave you answer in the reviews if you want to guess. Thank you! **


	6. Where could he be?

**Hi...I'm actually so sorry for such a delay! I promise, and I'm keeping this promise, that I'll update my other story tomorrow, and I'll try to make the times of when I put a new chapter out quicker. I also have my reasons. Homework, lots of dancing, competitions, BUSY SCHEDULES! Anyway, here's chapter 6 (I tried to make it extra long to make up for my bad updating!)**

Today was quite the 'normal' day for Twist, just selling papers on a corner of a street. Just one warm Saturday in the midst of spring. While she called out the headlines, she kept a weary eye out for whenever someone came back accusing her for the false headlines. As Jack said, it's only improving the truth a little, well maybe a lot.

She saw Albert just down the street, also selling his papers. When she glanced back, she noticed an angry man coming towards her, obviously realising that the headline was a lie. Letting out a small yelp, she turned around to face an alleyway nearby and started hobbling as fast as she could to get away from the man. Once she felt like she was safe, she checked if the man had gone from the street she was selling at. She couldn't see the man anywhere, so she went back to selling in her usual spot.

The time was nearing 12:30, which was a perfect time to eat lunch, well to Twist that was. She started limping over to Albert, with the aid of her crutch.

"Hey Albert! Are you gonna eat lunch now?" she asked the boy after he'd just sold another paper. "I'm going now, do you wanna come?"

"Sure," Albert agreed, joining Twist's side. The two of them walked over to Jacob's Deli, and peered into the window, hoping that some of the other newsies were already there. To their luck, there were already about 5 of them in the deli.

Albert went over to sit next to Buttons, whilst Twist went to sit with Crutchie and Davey., who often decided to work with the newsies on Saturdays. Twist plopped down on the wooden chair, resting her crutch next to Crutchie's.

"It's so hot today," Crutchie let out a sigh, rolling up his sleeves at the same time. "I didn't think it was supposed ta be like dis now." He was right, it was only the start of spring, the cold air from winter turning to the temperate breeze of spring. Yet, it felt as hot as summer, which was strange.

"Yeah, it's a bit odd, but I'll take it over the cold weather any day," Davey replied. Twist also liked summer more than winter, you didn't have to worry about the amount of layers you had to wear, or colds, or snow being laid about, disrupting the usual ease of walking. She was still getting used to the fact that snow even existed in the world. She never experienced it until her first winter in New York, when she woke up one morning with the streets covered in snow. Such a strange sight it was for her, except she learnt that it was just another natural thing in the world. The memory came back to Twist softy, like the calm snowflakes that fell from the clouds that morning.

"Hey! Earth ta Twist!" Crutchie was clicking his fingers in front of her face, waking her up from her daze. "Where'd ya go?"

"Oh, sorry..." Twist muttered, embarrassment showing on her face. "What were we talking about?"

"Just the headlines being as boring as usual," another voice piped up. '_Definitely Jack's_' Twist thought to herself. Another thought popped into her head, 'when did he get here?' She spoke up, her voice tinged with confusion. "When did you get here, Jack?"

"Well, if ya had been payin' attention, you'd have known. I didn't get in 'ere dat quietly," Jack rolled his eyes while he sat down in the chair next to Davey. "Headlines bad, selling is bad, just a bad day for me..." he groaned slightly at the sudden downwards in his day. "What about youse all?" he slouched into his chair, crossing his arms in the process.

"Well I had an alright day of selling, basically the same as any other Saturday," Davey started, seeming almost impressed that he'd had a better day selling than Jack. It was quite the rare sight.

"I had a good day!" Crutchie said in a cheerful mood, at least someone had a good day of selling. "Everyone wanted a pape today, and dey all bought it from me!" Jack reached and arm around to pat Crutchie on the back, a sign of congratulation.

"Well ain't you just lucky, eh Crutch?" Jack said with a smile, Crutchie returning an even bigger smile, lighting up the place with it. There was just something about the younger boys smile that everyone loved, it seemed to melt all the cares away just knowing that he was smiling. "Yeah, I guess I am," Crutchie replied.

"My day was alright, just the usual for me," Twist rested her head into the palms of her hands. "I'm gonna go eat something."

"Count me in!" Albert called from the other side of the table, most likely eavesdropping on their conversation. Once Albert had joined Twist, the two made their way over to the counter to order their lunch.

After lunch, the newsies split back up to finished their days work. For the rest of the day, it seemed like a breeze to Twist, with the weather cooling down slowly as the sun dropped down. When the sun was almost at the horizon, she had sold her last paper, and started making her way back to the Lodging house.

She arrived back at the Lodging house at around the same time as everyone else, but by the looks of everyone else, they looked just about ready to keel over and sleep. Maybe the warmer weather had gotten to them? Who knows. Twist was sure she was awake as ever, since she is used to hot weather coming at strange times during the year. Some things she will always remember about Australia.

The Lodging house was almost silent whilst all the newsies waited for their dinner, but once it was served by Kloppman, they all noticed one of them were missing. "Does anyone know where Crutchie is?" Buttons called out randomly while they were eating dinner. A groan of 'no's' chorused after. Although, one newsie in particular hadn't said anything since he arrived at the Lodging house. From the moment he knew Crutchie wasn't back, he went silent, not saying a single word.

Jack. He was stressed. '_Where in the world is Crutchie?_' Twist thought. '_He was always back by now._'

Before Jack even finished his dinner, he stood up from the table he was eating at and started pacing back and forth, wringing his hat in his hands. He started muttering things that no one else could hear. Twist could finally see why Jack cared about Crutchie so much. He was like a younger brother to Jack, maybe not by blood, but definitely by heart. She had never seen something that had broken her heart so much since the time she saw her parents dead.

Jack ran a hand through his hair, letting his hat fall to the ground. Specs got up from where he was eating and walked over to Jack. "We'se can go and find him," Specs offered, making sure he was gentle enough. Jack nodded, letting a single tear roll silently down his face.

"Yeah..." he whispered, closing his eyes.

"Alright, Race! Youse, Jojo, Albert, Elmer and I are gonna go find Crutchie!" Specs called from over his shoulder. "Da rest of you stay here."

Jack turned around to face Specs, a sudden confusion taking over his face. "What about me? Can't I come?" he asked, sounding almost childish. "He's my brudda, I wanna help."

Race walked over to Jack and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Youse stay here, we'se will find him," he assured Jack. The last thing that any of them wanted to do was to make Jack worry further.

What Jack did surprised everyone in the Lodging house. He just nodded towards Race and made his way upstairs, without saying a word to anyone. He just silently went to where the bunks were and disappeared upstairs.

**I hope you liked this chapter. Once again, I'm so sorry for my poor updating, I'll try my hardest to improve it since I like writing and seeing what you guys think of it. Even though I shouldn't ask for it, but I'm going to anyway, please review what you think of it. If you think of any tips, that would be most appreciated and thanks again**!


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